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Friday, October 7, 2011

Mexican Congressman’s Killers Identified

Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the murder of Mexican Congressman Moises Villanueva and his driver, who were killed on the orders of a mayor, officials said.

Florencio Jimenez Chino, a state police officer, and his brother, Antonio, were detained in connection with the killings of Villanueva and his driver, Eric Estrada, last month, Guerrero state Attorney General Alberto Lopez Rosas said.

Villanueva, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and Estrada disappeared on Sept. 4 and their bodies were found 13 days later.

Their bodies were thrown off a bridge on the highway that links Huamuxitlan, Guerrero, to Puebla state.

The two suspects acted on the orders of “a mayor in the mountains of Guerrero,” Lopez Rosas said, without identifying the official.

The brothers confessed that they intercepted the congressman’s vehicle in Huamuxtitlan and forced the victims into the trunk of another automobile, the AG’s office said in a statement.

Villanueva and Estrada were beaten, taken to the bridge and thrown off, the suspects told investigators.

The two men were paid 300,000 pesos (about $23,000) for the killings, the AG’s office said.

“We are continuing the investigation and have fully identified the suspected intellectual author. We will soon reveal the identity,” Lopez Rosas said, without providing a motive for the murders.

Villanueva, a native of Alcozauca, Guerrero, belonged to the Population, Border and Migratory Affairs Committee and to the Agrarian Reform Committee of the lower house of Congress.